Postage meter



March 28, 1939. M. MOORE 2,152,204

POSTAGE METER Filed Aug. 11, 1 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 /N YEN TOR Na/v Ta 6 ozM0 025.

I Midw- ATTORNEY- March 28, MOORE I POSTAGE METER 1 Filed Aug. 11, 1937s Sheets-Sheet 2 //vv/v TOR. fife/079 115 Mooxee.

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M. MOORE March 28, 1939.

POSTAGE METER Filed Aug. 11, 1957 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVEN TOR. flan/74g:Moo/2:. M

ATTORNEY.

M. MOORE POSTAGE METER March 28, 1 939.

6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Aug. 11, 1937 March 28, 1939. 2

M. MOORE POSTAGE METER Filed Aug. 11, 1937- e Sheets-Sheet 5 {JZZBLATTORNEY- Mon/7,7605 fifoakz.

M2 MOORE POSTAGE METER March 28, 1939.

Filed Aug. 11, 1937 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 I I LJ INVENTOR. flolvfqque MooRE.

/& as as I Fig. 6 is an Patented Mar. 28, 1939 UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE Application August 11, 1937, Serial No. 158,527

16 Claims.

My invention relates to improvements in postage meters, the objects ofwhich are to provide a postage meter which will be compact in form,of'light weight and simple construction whereby its use can be extendedto relatively small business institutions as well as larger ones. Toprovide means whereby the stacks of envelopes or cards of varying lengthmay be put through the machine and have the stamp impressed on each inthe proper place; to provide means whereby letters or cards howeverthinor soft will be properly carried through the machine and the postageapplied be accurately recorded, and to provide simple means for changingthe amount of postage to be impressed upon the letters and recorded asimpressed. 4

The invention consists of a radially movable die mounted upon a rotatingshaft, which die is provided with an interchangeable indicia repre- 20senting postage values and means are provided for changing said indiciaand causing the amount of the postage value to be recorded at eachradial movement of the die, as will be more fully described in thefollowing specification and shown in the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the invention with the cover removed.

Fig.2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on the line 2-2 ofFigure 1. Fig. 3 is a detail view showing the rotating die and the geartrain for changing the postage amount.

Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Figures 1 and2.

Fig. 5 is a detail plan view showing the inking roll and its mounting.

end view taken on the line 66 of Figure 2.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken on the line 10 1-1 of Figure 2.

Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken on the line 8-8 of Figure 1.

Fig. 9 is a sectional view showing the operating cam taken on the line9-9 of Figure 1.

Fig. 10 is a plan view showing the feed and dead rolls.

Fig. 11 is a plan view'showing the feed rolls and entrance gatefingers.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in each figure.

The numeral indicates a base having a bottom wall 2, side walls 3 and 4and is partly enclosed by a bed plate 5 on which the letters aresupported as they pass through the machine. Supported upon the base is ahousing 6 having shoes side walls 3 and 4 corresponding to those of thebase, a front wall I and a rear wall 8. Suitably mounted alongside thebase is a motor 9 having a shaft l0 fitted with a worm II which mesheswith a worm gear |2 upon a countershaft 3 5 extending longitudinally ofthe housing 6, see Figures 1 and 2. The countershaft is fitted with apulley l4 for driving the feed rolls to be hereinafter described andalso a pinion l5 which drives a main gear I 6. Mounted longitudinally of10 the housing is a main shaft I which is journalled in bearings I8 and9 and is fitted at its outer end with a turning knob and at its innerend with a disc 2|. Secured to the shaft I1 is a cam 22, which, with themain shaft I1, is frictionally l5 driven by the main gear l6 bearingagainst the side of the cam under pressure of a friction spring spider23 which is mounted on the inner face of a thrust collar 24 abutting theinner face of the bearing H3. The object of the frictional 20 drive ofthe main shaft is to enable the shaft .to be turned manually to adesired position to change the date die should such be used. The sidewalls of the housing are cut away at their lower edge to define a gap 25through which the 2; letters pass to be stamped.

Slidably mounted upon the disc 2| is a printing head which issubstantially in the form of an inverted T, as seen in Figure 2, the leg3| of the T being apertured as at 32 to pass around 30 the shaft l1 andadjacent its upper extremity it is provided with a guide 33 whichextends through a radial slot 34 in the disc 2 The extremities of thehead of the T forming the printing head 30 are suitably guided on theborders .35 of a gap 35 formed in the disc 2| so that the head of the Tmoves radially of the disc in which it is mounted.i The printing head isretracted to itsinner position as shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4, by one ormore tension springs 36 which are anchored on one face of the disc 2|.

The T printing head 30. is provided with an arcuate rim 3'! whichextends towards the main drive gear l6 and is adapted to be engaged by apress roll 38 to be hereinafter described, to move said plate outwardlyfrom the axis of the main shaft l1. On the opposite side of the printinghead 30, see Figure 3, is an arcuate flange or die 39 on which one ormore stamps are embossed to imprint the letters passed through themachine. One of the stamps will indicate postage and the other, if used,will indicate the date of postage. These elements will be hereinafterreferred to as the postage stamp, indicated by the numeral 48 and thedate stamp indicated by the numeral 4|.

The date stamp 4| or a portion of it will necessarily need to beremovable for changing the date and will preferably be circular in formand provided with lugs 42 which will engage bayonet socket slots 43formed in the die 39. Convenient means will be provided for the removalof the date stamp through a suitable opening in the housing. Particulardetail to this part of the structure is not deemed necessary as it formsno part of the invention.

The postage stamp 48 would be centrally apertured to permit the indiciarepresenting value of postage applied to project, this indicia is on theperiphery of an indicia wheel 44 which is mounted upon a pin 45 carriedby the head 38 and is fitted with a gear 46. The gear 46 is rotated froman idler 41 which isrotatably mounted on a pin 48 mounted upon the disc2|. Rotatably mounted upon the inner end of the shaft I1 is a. pinion 49which is normally in mesh with the idler 41, and formed integrally withsaid pinion is one complementary member 58 of a dog clutch 5|. Thepinion 49 and the gear 46 are each provided with a suitable spring pawlor stop 52 which holds these elements frictionally against rotation, sothat after an impression has been made by the stamps 48 and 4| and thehead 38 recedes to its normal position the gears 41 and 46 will returnto meshing position and the relative position of the teeth of the dogclutch member 58 to the numbers on the indicia wheel 44 will remainunchanged.

Printing head operation.Mounted adjacent the rear wall 8 is a rock shaft68 upon which is fixed an arm 6| provided at its outer end with a roller62, which roller engages the underside of the cam 22 on the main driveshaft I'I. An arm 63 extends from the rock shaft 68 which is engaged bya spring 64, see Figures 1 and 2, having a suitable anchorage adjacentthe upper part of the housing for holding the roller 62 in constantengagement with the cam 22. Secured upon the rock shaft 68 intermediateits length is a slide arm 65, shown in detail in Figure 4. This slidearm guides a vertically movable slide 66 which is here shown at itslowermost position and is returned to said position by a light spring61. Projecting inwardly from the slide 66 is a pawl 68 which is providedwith a spring 69 to normally hold it at right angles to the slide 66.Freely mounted upon the rock shaft is a bell crank I8 which is providedwith a stop II to limit its upward movement and a spring I2 to raise itto its normal or inoperative position. The bell crank has legs 13 andI4, and at the free end of the leg I3 the roller 38 is mounted. Theupper leg I4 of the bell crank I8 is provided at its free end with athroat I5 in which the pawl 68 isreceived when the slide 66 is raisedand the slide arm 65 is rocked inwardly.

Feed roll assembly.-A series of feed rolls I6, I! and I8 are rotatablymounted within the base I on shafts I9, 88 and 8|, which rollers areprojected slightly above the bed plate 5. The shaft I9 is mounted inspring supported bearings 82, see Figures 2 and 4. The shaft I9 isfitted with two pulleys 83 and 83a, the shaft 88 is fitted with pulleys84 and 84a, and the shaft 8| is fitted with a pulley 85. A belt 86connects the pulley I4 on the countershaft I3 with the pulley '83. Abelt 81 drives the pulley 84 from the pulley 83a and a belt 88 drivesthe pulley 85 from the pulley 84a. Above the feed roll 11 is a dead roll89 which is mounted to float in slotted bearings 98 so that it may liftaccording to the thickness of the letters entering the machine. A gate9| which is adapted to be adjusted vertically in any convenient way, isfitted in front of the dead roll 89 and is spaced above thebed plate topermit the lowermost of a pile of letters to enter the gap 25 into thehousing.

Trip mechanism.Mounted parallel to the deadroll 89 is a shaft 94 whichis set above the gap 25 so that letters may pass freely thereunder. Uponthis shaft a plurality of shoes 95 are fitted which are connectedtogether for simultaneous movement by a push rod 96. Each of the tripshoes 95 are set close to the face of one of the rolls I! so as to dropwhen in non-operative position slightly below the periphery of therolls, as shown in Figure 4, and to project their free ends 91 upwardlyabove the entering letter that they may be raised thereby. Extendingupwardly from the rod 96 is a push rod 98 having at its base atelescopic sleeve provided with a finger I83 extending above a step I84.The step I84 is adapted to underly the slide 66 so that as a letterpasses under the trip shoes 95 the slide 66 is raised and the pawl 68 isbrought into line for engagement with the throat I5 of the bell crankleg I4, so that when the slide arm 65 is rocked the pawl will rock thebell crank I8.

Mounted below the bedplate 5 between the feed rolls I6 and TI is arocking shaft I I I from which a plurality of spring fingers II 2extend, which fingers are provided at their outer ends withupturned'stops I I3. These stops are adapted to bear towards the lowerborder of the gate 9| at all times when a letter is passing under theshoes 95 and are urged upwardly by a suitable counterweight II4. Theshaft II I is provided with a horizontally disposed arm I I5 which isadapted to be depressed by a corresponding arm I I 6 mounted upon theshaft 94, when the trailing end of a letter has passed beyond the shoes95 the shoes will drop, the arm I I6 will press down the arm I I5 andlower the stops II3 that another letter may be drawn beneath the gate9|.

Inking device.n the front wall 1 of the housing is a vertical slide I2Iin bearings I22, and at the upper end of the slide a forked member I23is rockingly mounted upon a transverse pin I24, 9.

stop I25 on the slide prevents the forked member I23 from dropping belowthe horizontal position shown in Figure and alight spring I26 isprovided for urging it downwardly towards the horizontal position.Rotatingly mounted on a perforated hollow spindle I21 carried in theforked member 23 is an inking roller, I28 covered with pervious materialin the usual manner. The spindle I2I is fitted at one end with anupstanding funnel I29 which is disposed immediately below a small feedtube I38 extending through the top wall of the housing. A spring I3|serves to raise the slide I2I and a dash pot I 32 of any suitable typeis connected to the slide to retard its return to raised position.Coupled to the bell crank I8 to operate therewith is an arm I33 whichengages a lug I34 on the slide |2I to depress it and bring the inkingroller I28 down into contact with the flange and the postage and datestamps immediately following the impressing of a letter.

Postage setting mechanism.Projecting from the inside. of the side wall 3of the housing is a collar I 4 I see Figures 1 and 2, which is supportedon a pair of horizontal supports I42, non-rotatably mounted in thiscollar is a bearing sleeve I43 having a flange I44 at its inner endwhich is provided with indents I45 corresponding to the value of postageto be impressed, such as 1, 2 or 5 cents as the case may be.Rotatably-mounted in the bearing sleeve I43 is a hollow shaft I46 whichis urged endwise by a spring I41 towards the side wall 3. At the innerend of the shaft I46 is a half clutch member I48 which is aligned withand complementary to the half clutch member 50 and forms part of theclutch 5|. n the rear side of the half clutch member I48 is a pin I49which is adapted to engage any of the indents I45 when the hollow shaftI46 is in normal endwise position and hold it against rotation. At theouter end of the shaft I46 a head I50 is fitted, which is provided witha single transverse slot II on its face, see detail view in Figure 6, atone end of which a feather key I52 is fitted. Coacting with the head I50is a boss I53 formed upon the side wall 3. This bossis circular in formand is recessed as at I54 from the outside of the machine to define aninternal flange I55, see Figure '1. The boss is provided across itsinner end with a plurality of radial slots I56 corresponding to theindents I45 on the flange I44. When the hollow shaft is in normalendwise position the key I52 of the head I50 is seated in the outer endof one of the slots I56, hence the shaftv is still held againstrotation. The rotation of the shaft I46 is effected by a key I51 havinga head I58 provided with a pointer I59 reading upon a graduated scaleI60 on the wall 3 of the casing, which scale represents postage valuesto be impressed on the letters. The key I51 is provided with a stem I6Iwhich passes through the flange I55,-the head I50 and into the hollowshaft I46, and is provided with a transverse wing I62, which when innormal positionfas shown in Figures 1 and 2, lies within a pair ofopposed radial slots I56 of the flange I55 and the single transverseslot I5I of the head I50. When the key is in the position shown, thepostage value setting mechanism is in fixed positon, but when said keyis moved into its innermost position the wing I62 presses the hollowshaft 46 endwise to release the pin I49 from its indent I45 and passesbeyond the flange I55, so that the key can be turned and through saidwing turn the shaft I46. As soon as the wing I62 is clear of the flangeI55 the clutch members I48 and 50 are in full engagement and any turn ofthe shaft I46 imparts a similar turn to the gear train 49, 41 and46,.thus changing the stamp value to be impressed on the letters passingthrough the machine.

Recording mechanism-Extending radially from the half clutch member I48is an arm I63 having at its free end a substantially V-shaped triprelease I64, see Figures 1, 2 and 8, and directly coupled through asleeve I65 secured to the inker arm I33 is an arm I66 provided at itsfree end with a trip set I61, which arm will swing to move its trip seteach time a letter is entered for postage impression. Extending from the.disc 2| is a lug I 68 upon which a rocker I69 is mounted on an axisradial to the disc. The rocker is resiliently retained in either of itsoperating positions, as indicated in full and dotted line in Figure 1,by a throw over spring I10. To one side of the rocket. is a dog "I whichis adapted to engage a stop I12 on the face of a half gear I13, on theouter face of the rocket I69 is a roller I14 which is adapted to strikethe trip set I61 and on the inner face aligned with the roller I14 is aroller I15, see Figure 2, which is adapted to strike the trip releaseI64 and. move the rocker away from the half gear I13. The half gear I13is freely rotatable upon the sleeve I43 and is resiliently held againstmovement in a clockwise direction, as seen in Figure 8, by a spring I16secured at one end to the hub of the gear and anchored at the other to apin 11 extending from the bearing support I42. Mounted on the. housing 6is a counter I18 of any suitable type for recording the total amount ofpostage applied. This counter is driven by a free wheel gear I19 whichoperates the counter only when rotated in one direction, the 'gear isdriven to operate the counter through an idler I80 which is in constantmesh with the half gear I13.

The operation of the machine is as follows?- The motor when runningimparts rotation to the shaft I1 and its disc 2| and also the feed rolls16, 11 and 18. Letters are then placed into a suitable magazine |8Ipartly shown in Figure 10, the lowermost letter will be drawn by contactwith the feed roll 18 under the gate 9|, as the letter enters the bightbetween the feed roll 11 and the dead roll 89 it engages the shoes 95andraises them and imparts an upward thrust to the push rod 98, whichlifts the slide 66 and disposes its pawl 68 in line with the throat 15of the upper leg 14 of the bell crank 10. By the time that the forwardend of the letter is passing over the feed roll 16 the cam 22 will be insuch position as to rock the shaft 60 and since the pawl 68 is then inline with the throat 15 the leg 13 of the bell crank will be lowered sothat its press roll 38 will bear downwardly upon the arcuate rim 31 andmove the printing head radially so that post,- age and date stamps and4| respectively are projected to the periphery of thedisc 2| to impresspostage and date upon the letter as it passes thereunder. Simultaneouslywith this movement the arm I33, coupled to the bell crank 10, is moveddownwardly, drawing down the vertical slide I2I to the limit of itsstroke, when the inking into contact with the stamps to re-ink them.

The dash pot I32 will be adjusted so as to prevent the slide from risingbeyond a predetermined point until the re-inking has been completed,when its retarding. action will be overcome and the inking roller andits slide I2I will be returned by the spring I3| to normal position asshown in Figure 4.

- Assuming the length of the letter passing through the machine to belonger than the periphery of the disc 2| it will not have passed beyondthe shoes 95,- consequently the slide 66 which hasbeen thrust down tothe position shown in dotted line in Figure 4 will not be able to returntodts position uponthe step I04 of the push rod 96 and will not inconsequence be able to effect the printing of the letter a second time.The dropping of the slide-66 will be effected by the spring 69 as soonas thestrain is relieved between the pawl 68 and the throat 15 and thelower extremity of said slide is offset from the step I04. When the endof the slide 66 is overlapping the step as shown in dotted line, theroller 62 will be held out of contact with the nonoperating part, of thecam 22. As soon as the trailing end of the letter permits the shoes todrop the arm II6 will press down the arm H5 and lower the fingers H2 andtheir stops H3, so that another letter may be drawn into the machine. Asthe shoes drop the step I04 of the push rod 98 will return to normal andthe slide 66 and its slide arm 65 will return to normal verticalposition as shown in full line in Figure 4.

If a letter passing through the machine is relatively thick the spring Iin the telescopic sleeve 99 will be compressed.

By providing the shoes 95 with upturned free ends 91 which intersect theperiphery of the feed rolls 11 tangentially and disposingsaid shoes inclose proximity to the face of each roll thin card or paper will inpassing lift said shoes without difficulty or without damage to thepaper.

Assuming the machine to have been .'set to print 2 cents postage the armI63 on the half clutch member I48 set in a corresponding posi- 'tion asshown in Figure 2. The arm I66 will have been moved as the rock shaft 60is rocked to cause the printing of the letter, which will dispose thetrip set I61 in the path of the roller I14 on the rocker I69, the discon rotating will cause the roller to engage the trip set and move therocker over to the left, see Figure 1, when its dog I1I will come intothe path of the stop I12 on the half gear I13. When the dog and stopmeet, the half gear will be driven around until the roller I14 strikesthe trip release I64 and breaks the driving train, when the spring I16will return the half gear I13 to its position of rest. During thedriving of the half gear from the disc 2I the postage amount set will beadded to the previous total of the counter I18.

When the disc 2| is rotating withoutiprinting, the trip set I61 will beretracted from the path of the roller I14, consequently no drive will becommunicated from the disc 2I to the half gear and the counter willremain inoperative.

To change the postage amount, the key I51 is pressed inwardly to releasethe wing I 62 from its slots I56 and to engage the clutch it is thenturned to the desired amount, which rotates the gears 49, 41 and 46,thus disposing the desired postage value in printing position in thepostage stamp 40.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A postage meter comprising a bed plate, means for feeding lettersacross the bed plate, a housing enclosing a driven shaft, a printing diemounted about the shaft for movement radial thereof, a swinging arm formoving the die into printing position, normally disconnected cooperatingelements adapted to be actuated bythe shaft for operating the swingingarms to move the die radially outwards to imprint a letter, a shoeadapted to be raised by a letter entering the housing for connecting thecooperating elements to the swinging arm, and means for returning theprinted die radially inward to normal position after the letter has beenprinted.

2. A postage meter comprising a bed plate, means for feeding lettersacross the bed plate, a housing enclosing a driven shaft, a printing diemountedabout the shaft for movement radially thereof, normallydisconnected cooperating elements adapted to be driven by the shaft formoving the printingdie radially outward to imprint a letter, a shoeadapted to be raised by a letter entering the housing for connecting thecooperating elements to move the die radially outward,

means for returning the printing die radially inward to normal positionafter the letter has been imprinted, and means for disrupting theconnection between the cooperating elements subsequent to the return ofthe die radially inwards and to prevent further connection between saidelements while the shoe is held in raised position.

3. In a postage meter, a bed plate, a feed roller, a disc upon a shaftparallel to the feed roll, means for imparting continuous rotation tothe disc, a printing head slidably mounted upon the disc, a bell crankrockable parallel to the face of the disc for moving the printing headinto printing position, a postage stamp on the printing head, means as aletter is fed between the disc and the feed roll for rocking the bellcrank to dispose thepostage stamp into printing position.

4. In a postage meter, a bed plate, a feed roller, a disc upon a shaftparallel to the feed roll, means for imparting continuous rotation tothe disc, a printing head slidably mounted upon the disc, an arcuate rimon the periphery of the printing head, a postage stamp upon the printinghead, a cam upon the shaft rotatable with the disc, said cam beingmounted upon the same axis as the disc, and means associated with thearcu ate rim and the cam for moving the printing head radially of thedisc to dispose the postage stamp into printing position as a letterenters between said disc and feed roll.

5. In a postage meter, a bed plate, a feed roller, a disc upon a shaftparallel to the feed roll, means for imparting continuous rotation tothe disc, a printing head slidably mounted upon the disc, an arcuate rimon the periphery of the printing head, a postage stamp upon the print:ing head, a cam upon the shaft rotatable with the disc, a'. rock shaft,an arm upon the rock shaft adapted to be moved by the rock shaft, a bellcrank freely movable upon the rock shaft having one leg adapted to movethe printing head radially of the disc to dispose the postage stamp intoprinting position, and means adapted on the entrance of a letter to thepostage meter to engage the second leg of the bell crank to rock andmove the printing head.

6. In a postage meter having a driven shaft, a disc and a cam upon theshaft, a printing head slidably mounted upon the disc, said printinghead having a postage stamp adapted on the moving of the head in onedirection to extend to the periphery of the disc, a rock shaft parallelto the driven shaft, an arm secured to the rock shaft adapted to bemoved in one direction by the cam, a slide arm carried by'the rockshaft, a bell crank, a slide within the slide arm adapted to be raisedas a letter enters the postage meter,

one leg of the bell crank being adapted to engage the printing head toextend the postage stamp to the periphery of the disc, and means on theslide adapted when said slide is raised to engage the second leg of thebell crank to rock it.

7. In a postage meter having a driven shaft, a disc and a cam upontheshaft, a printing head slidably mounted upon the disc, said printinghead having a postage stamp adapted on the moving of the head in onedirection to extend to the periphery of the disc, a rock shaft parallelto the driven shaft, 'an arm secured to the rock shaft adapted to bemoved in one direction by the cam, a slide arm carried by the rockshaft, a bell crank, a slide within the slide arm adapted to be raisedas a letter enters the postage meter, one leg of the bell crank beingadapted to engage the printing head to extend the postage stamp to theperiphery of the disc, means on the slide adapted whensaid slide israised to engage the second leg of the bell crank to rock it, and meansfor returning the bell crank to normal position.

8. In a postage meter having a driven shaft,v a disc and a cam upon theshaft, a printinghead slidably mounted upon the disc, said printing headhaving a postage stamp adapted on the,

moving of the head in one direction to extend to the periphery of thedisc, a rock shaft parallel to the driven shaft, an arm secured to therock shaft adapted to be moved in one direction by the cam, a slide armcarried by the rock shaft, a bell crank, a slide within the slide armadapted to be raised as a letter enters the postage meter,

one leg of thebell crank being adapted to engage the printing head toextend the postage stamp to the periphery of the disc, means on theslide adapted when said slide is raised to engage the second leg of thebell crank to rock it, and means for lowering the slide after the rockshaft has been rocked to operate the bell crank.

9. In a postage meter, a rotary printing head comprising a disc, aT-shaped printing head slidably mounted upon the disc, the head of the Tbeing provided with a postage stamp and an arcuate rim disposed towardsthe periphery of the disc, means for resiliently maintaining the postagestamp below the periphery of the disc,

and means actuated from a moving part of the meter for intersecting thepath of the arcuate rim to move the postage stamp towards the peripheryof the disc, said means being actuated in response to the movement of aletter towards the disc.

10. In a postage meter, a driven shaft, a rotatable printing head uponthe shaft mounted for radial movement toward and away from the shaft, apostage stamp upon the printing head, said postage stamp including awheel bearing numbers indicative of postage values, and means alignedwith the shaft and accessible exteriorly of the meter for changing thepostal value in the postage stamp.

11. In a postage meter, a driven shaft, a rotatable printing head uponthe shaft mounted for radial movement toward and away from the shaft, apostage stamp upon the printing head, said postage stamp including awheel bearing numbers indicative of postage values, and means alignedwith the shaft and accessible exteriorly of. the meter for changing thepostage value in the postage stamp, said means being operable with thedriven shaft at any position of rotation of said shaft.

12. In a postage meter, a driven shaft, a disc upon the shaft, aradially movable printing head bearing a postage stamp adjacent theperiphery of the disc, means for moving the printing head radiallyoutward into printing position, a rotary operating with the postagestamp, means ro-.-

tatable about the axis of the disc for turning the rotary member tochange the postal value of the postage stamp.

13. In a postage meter having a driven shaft, a printing head mountedfor rotation with the shaft and for movement radially thereof, a rockshaft parallel to the driven shaft, said rock shaft having means forengaging the printing head to move it radially outward, a postage stampon the printing head adapted to impress a letter, a feed roll, a meansoperable in response to the passing of a letter over said feed roll forrocking the rack shaft to urge the printing head and its postage stampradially outward from the shaft, said means including a shoe having anupturned forward extremity, said shoe being disposed to project itslowermost portion below the periphery of the feed roll whereby a letterpassing between said shoe and the feed roll will raise the shoe abovethe periphery of the feed roll.

14. In a postage meter having a disc, a printing head radially movableupon the disc and normally retracted within its periphery, an inkingroll normally out of contact with the disc and the printing head andmeans operable in response to the entrance of each letter to the meterfor moving the inking roller into contact with the printing head.

15. In a postage meter having a rotating disc, aprinting head movableradially of the disc, an inking roll normally at rest and out of contactwith the printing head, and means operable in response to the entranceof each letter to the meter for moving the inkingroll into contact withthe periphery of the disc whereby it is rotated up to the peripheralspeed of the printing head and for subsequently moving said inking rollinto contact with said printing head.

16. In a postage meter, a bed plate, a feed roller, a disc upon a shaftparallel to the feed roll, means for imparting continuous rotation tothe disc, a printing head slidably mounted upon the disc, an arcuate rimon the periphery of the printing head, a postage stamp upon the printinghead, a bell crank adapted to engage the arcuate rim, a cam upon theshaft rotatable with the disc, said cam being mounted upon the same axisas the disc, and a rock shaft parallel to the disc shaft having an armfor engaging the cam, and means for engaging the bell crank to move theprinting head radially of the disc to dispose the postage stamp intoprinting position as a letter enters between said disc and feed roll.

